President Dame Judi Dench CH
15 July 2019
Jules Buckley announced as first Guest Curator for Cheltenham Music Festival
Artistic Director Alison Balsom to focus on performing and recording career
Cheltenham Festivals is delighted to announce that Jules Buckley has been appointed as the first Guest Curator for Cheltenham Music Festival from 2020. The composer, orchestrator and conductor has made a name for himself as one the most in-demand conductors and arrangers of contemporary orchestral projects. Currently he is Musical Director of the UK’s Heritage Orchestra and Chief Conductor of Holland’s renowned Metropole Orkest, with whom he won a Grammy Award for Sylva, their collaboration with Snarky Puppy. He has curated several BBC Late Night Proms including performing with Quincy Jones in a tribute to his musical idol.
Jules Buckley will work alongside Cheltenham Music Festival’s Head of Programming to devise the 2020 Festival programme. He said: “It is so exciting to be involved in Cheltenham Music Festival for next year as Guest Curator. I’m looking forward to working with the team on delivering some truly unique experiences at one of the country’s most renowned classical music festivals.”
Following an enormously successful 75th anniversary Festival, Alison Balsom OBE steps down as Artistic Director to focus on her international performing and recording career. Appointed in early 2018, Alison Balsom has long been recognised as a champion of broadening audiences for classical music and for wider participation in music making. These shared values with Cheltenham Music Festival resulted in her programming for the Festival’s 75th anniversary with 20 world premieres and year-round outreach work
Alison Balsom said: “I am extremely proud of the programme for the 75th anniversary this year which encompassed a host of unique events and world-leading performers. Cheltenham are hugely fortunate to have the wonderful Jules Buckley as guest curator and I’m so looking forward to seeing his visions come to life next year.”
Edward Gillespie, Chair of Cheltenham Music Festival said “We applaud everything Alison has achieved this year for our 75th anniversary. She has established an amazing rapport with audiences and raised the profile of Cheltenham Music Festival. I am certain that Jules Buckley’s pioneering artistic vision will equally resonate with audiences.”
The full programme for Cheltenham Music Festival 2020 will be announced in the Spring. For further press information contact Nasarene Asghar, Premier PR, [email protected], 0207-292-7350
Image of Jules Buckley can be downloaded here
Notes to Editors
Cheltenham Music Festival Established in 1945, Cheltenham Music Festival boasts an outstanding reputation for high calibre performances, inventive programming and a growing schools and family strand. It takes place in a range of first-class venues in the beautiful Regency town of Cheltenham and across the Cotswolds. Cheltenham Music Festival is part of Cheltenham Festivals – a charity which brings the arts and sciences to audiences, supports emerging talent, and delivers a pioneering year-round educational programme, culminating at the town’s internationally-acclaimed Jazz, Science, Music and Literature Festivals. The new structure for Cheltenham Music Festival brings it into line with Cheltenham Jazz, Science and Literature Festivals, where one or more Guest Curators devise the programme in collaboration with each Festival’s Head of Programming.
Jules Buckley Conductor, arranger, orchestrator, curator, composer
Jules Buckley leads two of the world’s most in-demand and high-profile orchestras. He is the co-founder and conductor of the Heritage Orchestra, a genre-smashing ensemble dedicated to performing new music with a daring approach to crossing and linking musical genres, and Chief Conductor of Holland’s Metropole Orkest whom he joined in 2008.
He is a Grammy winner with two No1 albums and the go-to orchestrator for some of the hottest names in music around the world. For the past 9 years, Buckley has taken both orchestras to London’s Royal Albert Hall to present some of the BBC’s most highly acclaimed, ground-breaking BBC Proms. Last year, Buckley’s two BBC Proms, ‘New York: Sound Of A City’ and ‘Jacob Collier and Friends’, saw him bringing together a collision of genres, from jazz, disco, soul and gospel to electronica, global, avant garde and jazz.
In 2019, Jules Buckley presents his 15th and 16th BBC Proms. The first is Mississippi Goddam: A Homage to Nina Simone. For the second, The Breaks, Buckley explores the culture-defining music that has inspired the world of scratch DJs, hip hop and breakdancing since the 1970s.
“It doesn’t matter if genres seemingly clash, if the concept is strong, you can make anything happen” says Buckley. A great remixer can take any track and make something fresh out of it, this is my approach to orchestral work. I think long and hard to make it really connect and resonate with audiences.”